The Case of the Phantom Frog

McGurk Mystery #7

by E.W. Hildick

Vintage paperback

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Fiction

138 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1979

About the author

E.W. (Edmund Wallace) Hildick was a British children's book author. He was born in Bradford, England in 1925. After two years service in the Royal Air Force he became a secondary school teacher, then a writer, later moving to the United States to become editor of a literary magazine. He died in London in 2001.

Reviews

[MisterFweem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among the many, many books I read as a kid, I look back on E.W. Hildick's McGurk mysteries with a certain fondness. Who hasn't ever wanted to be a smart-alecky kid like Jack P. McGurk, able to assemble a great yet easily bossable team of experts, from the bloodhound Willy Sandowsky, the tree-climbing, sarcastic Wanda Grieg, the always inscrutable Brains Bellingham and the bookish Joey whose last name eludes me for the moment. Well, I didn't want to be the smart-alecky kid. But being Joey, the one good with words and with his own typewriter -- a typewriter, that dates these books -- always appealed. And then there are Lisl Weil's wonderful illustrations that always look like they've been done with a Sharpie. Wonderful books. Hard to find, since they're out of print and no one seems interested in reprinting them. So I scour the used book stores and occasionally get lucky.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child, I loved these books! And in the series, this and the Invisible Dog were my favourites! First, let me assure you there is nothing supernatural in the series (SPOILER: The boy is NOT a werefrog!)

I know E W Hildick continued writing the series until well into the 1990s, but as I was born in the mid 70s, the books I read as a child were the earlier ones; before most of the mysteries started involving real crimes. This type of faux crime excited my young mind, as the "mysteries" were things I could relate to as opposed to bank robbers, industrial spies, and (later in the series) time travel and the like. Sure, those were good fun (even reading as a teen and adult), but for tween (and younger) me, the thought that I might be in a "detective organization" of kids and find such incidents in my own neighbourhood was thrilling!

I like how Hildick doesn't baby the books, and that everything really does proceed logically, as the kids solve the mysteries with intelligence and talent. I think this book marks the first time, the gang receives an adult client. The only thing I didn't like was that they basically weren't paid at the end. This seems a common theme, (even in "big boy" books like the Three Investigators!). I understand they donated their earnings towards a cage construction (read the book to learn why), but Mrs Kranz (the client) could easily have afforded to buy the materials for the cage, and still paid the kids! I always felt they got the short end of the stick there, especially as it was such a generous wage! ($10/day, which is a fortune for a 10 year old in 1979! My allowance was $3/week for instance)

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this series as a kid, and when I saw this book at a yard sale, decided to re-read it for nostalgia sake. After all these years, it still holds up. A motley group of characters, a fun mystery. I don’t see why today’s children wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I did at their age.

[Paul-Baptiste · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun flashback to my childhood. Loved reading this to my girls and will certainly be reading more MCgurk Mysteries to them.

[Stephanne Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute mystery. Nicely written. If you have a child that likes mystery's I would recommend this book and others written by E.W. Hildick.